Never Been Flying
by The Misty Elf
Summary: She said she had never been flying. He remembered. Only it was too late. A DracoHermione story.
1. Prologue

**Never Been Flying**  
Prologue  
  
  
          The room was showered in a soft shade of milk chocolate. The bright orange flame was waving and dancing in the fireplace, with a soft hissing sound that blissfully added to the warm feeling in the house. It was again Christmas Eve, and the house was crowded as usual, especially in this room, the family room. In the wooden rocking chair by the fire sat an aged man with silver hair. His face was of a pale shade, and wrinkles carefully crawled up his unblemished face. He sat as if he and the chair belonged together, and slowly rocked back and forth, the scarlet sweater he wore was showing under the brown woollen blanket in his lap.   
  
          The television set was turned on in the living room. Although the sound coming out of the mouth of an adorable honey coloured bear was drowned by the cheerful laughter of children gathered around it, he knew it was Winnie the Pooh that they were watching. _It had been her favourite television programme, too, when she was young._ Outside the wide windows, snowflakes were falling gracefully from above, dancing as the finest ballerinas on the stage of a peaceful silver world. He turned his head slowly to look into the flame that provided them warmth, smiling at the thought that slipped into his mind, those grey orbs sparkling with delight and peacefulness. _Yes, she would have been pleased to see me now, living in a happy family, living a blissful life just like this..._   
  
          A small child with short golden hair ran towards him, and stopped to sit at his feet. His chubby face turned up to set his curious gaze on the old man's face. "Grandpa, could you tell a Christmas story, please?" When he received no answer, he took his tiny hands and shook grandpa's knees lightly, "Grandpa?" A woman with auburn hair walked over to the child. "Mummy," the child called out, "why isn't Grandpa answering me?"   
  
          "Grandpa is a bit tired, sweetheart." She stroke her son's head lovingly. "Come now," she held out a hand for him, "let's find Aunt Betty and let Grandpa get some rest." The boy put his hand firmly in hers, and responded with a smile, "Okay!"   
  
          While walking away, he turned his head back, and reached his chubby hand to Grandpa's knee, and patted it seriously, "sleep well, Grandpa," and turned to follow his mother.   
  
  
**Author's Note**: This is from an idea that I've had for about two years now, but never came around to writing it. Then I made it into a challenge, at . Please do try it if you're interested. Anyway, somehow, it just sort of attracted me after I posted that thread, and decided to actually work on it myself. This prologue was written last year, I just changed a few things. This is exactly how I thought it would start. Hope you liked it. But don't hesitate to tell me otherwise. 


	2. Chapter One: The Beginning

**Disclaimer**: Everything and everyone you recognize belongs to J. K. Rowling. I have nothing.   
  


  
**Never Been Flying**   
Chapter One -- The Beginning  
  
          It was finally the start of Hermione Granger's seventh and final year at Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, and she was going to see her dear friends again. She had wished that they would stay at the Burrow for a while before the end of the summer, but Professor Dumbledore insisted that Harry stayed at Number 4 Privet Drive for his own safety, since Voldemort was becoming more powerful and aggressive every passing day. She couldn't argue with that - it was a fact after all. Numerous muggles were killed every week. It had been the headline in muggle news for some months now, and they were suspecting an unknown disease being the cause behind it all - since every victim only had a crack in the heart and no visible injuries on the outside. Hermione felt sorry for them for being so ignorant, and flinched at the thought that she would have been one of them had Hogwarts not sent her the letter six years ago.   
  
          But none of that mattered anymore. She was now on the scarlet Hogwarts Express again, sitting opposite Harry and Ron, with Ginny on her side. It didn't matter that all three of them were in the middle of a heated discussion about Quidditch; all that mattered was that she was back again, with her friends. She found herself smiling while Crookshanks purred under her palm.   
  
          Then there went the routine. The door to their compartment opened, revealing a platinum head, this year much taller than before. However, as all four Gryffindors noticed, the goons were not behind the prat as they were every previous year.   
  
          "So Granger, I heard you declined the offer for Head Girl. Wise move, if you ask me. A mudbl-"   
  
          "You WHAT!" Harry, Ron and Ginny called out in unison, too caught up with the news to care about the insults Malfoy was throwing out.   
  
          That got on Malfoy's nerve. "Manners! I am not finished. You rude pitiful-"   
  
          "I received the letter this summer that informed me of being chosen as Head Girl this year. But I just didn't think it was for me, it wasn't what I wanted for my last year at Hogwarts. So I wrote to professor Dumbledore and asked him to give the honour to someone else, someone more deserving, someone who actually wants it." Hermione finished in one breath, not meeting the eyes full of disbelief and disappointment.   
  
          The compartment fell silent. That was, except Malfoy, who was still ranting about the lack of manners of the Gryffindors.   
  
          "Will you shut up?" Hermione finally whispered. Either shocked or scared, Malfoy obeyed, and observed the group quietly.   
  
          "I thought it was your dream," started Harry. "I thought all you wanted was to be Head Girl. I thought that was why you'd worked so hard for the past six years."   
  
          "That's what I thought as well." Her voice was soft, but firm. "I suppose we all thought wrong."   
  
          "Why?" Ron did not understand. To be honest, none of them did, not even Malfoy.   
  
          Hermione started to explain very slowly, as if talking to a group of children who had not yet fully mastered English, "Well, after receiving the letter, I started thinking,"   
  
          "Oh no," Ginny groaned, but motioned for her to continue.   
  
          "I asked myself, why did I want to be Head Girl? And the strange part was, I couldn't find an answer. Not even one. I'd expected billions of reasons for me to become Head Girl, but there was none. Can you imagine how I felt?" She paused, but none of them noticed.   
  
          With a sigh, she continued, "then I asked myself whether I would make a good Head Girl. I wanted to say 'yes', but I needed evidence. So I thought about the years back, and all I found were mischievous behaviours." A soft snort of sheer disbelief from Malfoy was unheard by the others when Hermione's story continued.   
  
          "Really, I've never given it much thought, but look at the rules we'd broken in the past six years," she was eyeing Harry and Ron, who seemed somewhat surprised. "First year, we battled the troll and went to the forbidden third floor; second year, I made Polyjuice potion just so we could get information from Malfoy; third year, we sneaked Harry into Hogsmeade, and used the time turner to save Siriu-"   
  
          "Ahem!"   
  
          Hermione turned to look at Ginny, who flicked her gaze to a gaping Malfoy. "Whoops." Hermione mouthed to the other three.   
  
          "Whoa! Granger, I had no idea...Detentions for a week, all of you!" Malfoy finished cheerfully, though he appeared to be rather flushed.   
  
          "You can't do that!" Ron yelled.   
  
          "Well, technically, he can," Hermione explained sadly. "He is Head Boy this year, which was one major reason that stopped me from accepting the Head Girl offer."   
  
          "That git?" the Gryffindors cried.   
  
          "Um…" Hermione did not need to finish as Malfoy suited himself in a posture that resembled Percy Weasley, showing off the shiny badge on his chest.   
  
          "I can_not_ believe this!" called out Harry.   
  
          "Dumbledore's gone mad." Ron seemed to sincerely believe so.   
  
          Ginny only nodded, due to lack of words.   
  
          "However, the school year has not yet started, therefore the attempted are invalid." Hermione smiled, watching the smug look being wiped off Malfoy's face.   
  
          The compartment was then filled with laughter, mostly directed to Malfoy, whose face was slowly turning into a faint shade of pink.   
  
          "You just wait, mudblood," he narrowed his eyes at Hermione, "I'll get you." And stormed away.   
  
          "Oh, I'll be waiting," Hermione said to the now empty door frame, ignoring the eyes of concern, "it's only getting started."   
  
**Author's Note**: Thanks to all my reviewers! **NewSecretRose**, **BookwormBelle**, **Kathryn-Colby**, and **wats up?**, your lovely reviews helped to speed up the writing process of this chapter. I hope Draco wasn't too out of character. I just wanted to show that he was shocked, sort of... 


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